Learn what is the best payment method for your ecommerce business on the world’s most popular website builder.
Even though it’s primarily known to be an above-and-beyond platform for setting up your own custom website, there is a fair amount of people using Wix for making online stores too.
The logistics of online payments, pricing and supported payment options on Wix stores can be a bit hard to understand, so let’s deep dive into the ins and outs of this website building giant and see how it performs compared to other ecommerce websites suitable for small businesses.
And before we do that: if you’re in the phase of deciding on the best ecommerce platform, you can check out our detailed comparison guide on Wix and Shopify. Due to COVID-19, this is definitely the best time to set up an ecommerce website and start accepting payments in alternative ways, so make sure you stay informed. We have an extensive guide into Shopify Payments as well.
Can I make an ecommerce Wix site?
First things first: yes, you can use Wix as a platform for your ecommerce needs. Even though the Israeli company is mostly a website builder for all things content, the many integrations and features can turn your Wix website into an amazing online shop.
However, the world of ecommerce is still ruled by Shopify, which also offers a large menu of payment options, from Apple Pay and Google, to Facebook. Shopify also allows different currencies on its online stores that make it much easier to use for customers worldwide.
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Wix Payments
Wix Payments is the platform’s all-in-one payment provider that allows users to manage orders and payments. Think of it as your virtual checkout where all methods are possible. There are two conditions to be able to use Wix Payments: you need to have an already published website and have to be subscribed to one of the Premium Plans.
Wix Payments grants users these features and options:
- Secure online payments
- To accept credit cards and debit cards (Visa, Mastercard, Discover, AMEX, Diners, CUP, JCB and Maestro)
- Accept other online payment methods, such as Giropay, iDeal and Pay Now by Klarna
- A unified dashboard for payouts, refunds and chargebacks
Wix Payments can be used with Wix Stores, Wix Invoices, Wix Bookings, Wix Art Store, Wix Music, Wix Video, Wix Events, Paid Plans or Corvid by Wix.
So, if it’s not available in the free plans, such as Wix Editor.
Once you have an eCommerce or Business plan, go to your account dashboard and click the button saying “Accept Payments”. After that, click the “Complete account setup” option.
While setting up, Wix will ask you to state your business type. Make sure you choose the right option, cause you cannot change this later.
Now, this all sounds very useful and simple, but there’s one major drawback: this recent update by Wix is not yet available in many countries. Below is a list of all the countries where Wix Payments is possible.
The pros of Wix Payments
Since Wix Payments is a relatively new feature, there still aren’t many detailed experiences by users. However, there are many clearly visible perks and benefits, as well as upsides in terms of its conditions compared to other ecommerce platforms.
Very low minimal amount per payment
The minimum amount for each transaction depends on different regions, but it’s never more than 1 in the respective currency. For example, in the United States, it’s just one dollar, whereas in the European Union it’s one euro, etc.
No chargebacks
A chargeback, in case you’re unsure of the term, is a situation occurring when a buyer loses a credit card or decides they don’t want to buy anymore. For you as a seller, that means you’ve lost an item.
Contrary to Shopify, where if a chargeback happens you are charged 15 dollars by the platform, Wix Payments has a much more user-friendly policy. They will return the money to the buyer, and will not charge a penalty to you as a seller.
Choose your payout schedule
A payout is a transfer from your Wix Payments balance to your bank account. You can choose between a daily, weekly, or monthly payout cycle that best suits your needs.
Wix Payments has a settlement period and a pending period between 2-5 days before the funds are available for payout. Once the payout is sent to your bank, it takes an additional 3-5 business days depending on your bank, for the funds to reach your account.
Better conversion rate and smaller bounce rate
With Wix Payments, you don’t redirect your buyers to an external page for paying, but keep them in the same place. This creates a better conversion rate for your website, helps your conversion rate keeping a smaller bounce rate, and, at the end of the line, it helps with SEO.
Easy to manage
The unified dashboard helps you see and manage all your payouts, refunds and chargebacks, making everything easier to organize.
The cons of Wix Payments
We already mentioned that Wix Payments is unavailable in many countries, and that is probably the biggest con at the moment. Here are some other things that might make you change your mind.
A long list of prohibited businesses
Wix reviews and verifies the information and content on each website, and many businesses are restricted or prohibited. It is a longer list that you can check out on this link.
Tight deadline for setup
The time allowed for you to set up your Wix Payments after receiving your first payment is 30 days. If you don’t manage to set it up in this timeframe, your Wix Payments account will be suspended and you will not be able to accept any more payments through your site.
If you do not complete the account setup within 60 days if you had previous transactions will be refunded to your customers.
Transaction fees
We already stated that Wix Payments is free to set up, however, charging fees apply for every transfer you get. You also cannot use this feature without having a Business or eCommerce account. There are different Premium plans that might fit you best.
Check out all the fees in detail.
Customer support
There are two ways to contact Wix support: submit a ticket, or request a callback.
Even though one of the key selling points Wix has included as a benefit to having Wix Payments is that you have 24 hour dedicated customer support, their customer support in languages other than English has limited working hours (for about working hours in different languages check this out).
In an effort to help customers speed up the process, they encourage them to categorize the issue they need help with.
Other payment options
Before Wix rolled out their own payments option, users could receive payments through PayPal or Stripe, credit cards, manual payments or payment processors such as the Square omnichannel Card Reader.
All of the above-mentioned options are still available, except for Stripe.
Since the adoption of Wix Payments, the only alternative that might be a better one remains to be PayPal.
The biggest suit for PayPal is that it accepts 25 currencies and is available in around 250 countries (compare that to the current use of Wix Payments of 5 currencies and 15 only 13 countries).
On the other hand, using Wix Payments allows you to keep your buyers on your website, hence improving the conversion rate and SEO, and of course, to have a better overview of all your transactions in a singular dashboard. It also has a smaller fee, cause you don’t have PayPal’s fees on top of Wix’s 30 cents fixed fee per transaction.
Conclusion
All in all, Wix Payments is a very helpful feature for your ecommerce Wix website. However, if your country or currency is not supported, PayPal remains a good universal alternative. You’ll have a slightly worse conversion rate and a harder time organizing your transactions, but the market is a lot wider by using PayPal.
Still, Wix Payments is also a fairly new update, and will most likely be adopted in more and more countries. We can also expect more detailed and honest reviews about the key selling points of this helpful tool.
